Shopping is a Social Activity

Of course, Lia goes to the supermarket herself nowadays, as it’s so easily available. But she does miss the social aspect of shopping. She recounts that: “The shops were also a sound board for all problems in the neighborhood, as well as private problems. Together you would try to solve those. I wouldn’t tell my problems to the cashier at the supermarket now.”

Urban planners and scientists love to point out the importance of social cohesion for the quality of life in a neighborhood. They often refer to community work or neighborly assistance. But shopping as a social activity or shops as a place for social contact are often overlooked. It is a subject that older residents love bringing up, as social contact back then was easy and accessible.

Compared to the impersonal transactional contact in supermarkets, local shops offered more intimate contact. The shop owners have a stake in this contact as well, because strong local competition, as well as the rise of supermarkets, made shop owners more keen on maintaining a personal relationship with their customers. In their role as sound board, the local shops contributed to neighborly assistance. Lia remembers that they would sometimes find customers in front of the shop at 10 o’clock at night, when the shop had long been closed for the day: “They could always call me, also at night, if they ran out of baby food, for example. But they would also call for a case of beer. If they had a party that got a little out of hand, they would call and ask if I had any beer left.”

Groceries were also often delivered at home. Shop owners would thus also know where their customers lived. As a child, Lia would often deliver groceries to students for a dime. This was first done by bike cart, and later by car. People used to help each other if anything happened. Frans, who lived in the rearmost part of the Morsweg, told us how in 1959, the grocer on the corner of the Bothastraat took his mother to the hospital when she went into labor. Upon the delivery of the groceries, the grocer immediately saw that the baby was coming.

Shops also used to act as meeting places for local residents. They were typical places for neighbors to gather together and share the latest gossip. Petra tells us: “You would walk into a shop and see someone making conversation, join them, and walk back together. Or it would go like: hey, why don’t you come over, or stop by later this week for coffee or something!”

Many residents pity the loss of the local shops. They were also useful for keeping an eye on the neighbors. Especially elderly people miss this, Petra explains: “Well, this is much worse nowadays. A lot of elderly people just sit inside all day without having any contacts, not even with the neighbors. Back then you would just run into your neighbor in the shops. Or the shop owner would say something like: I haven’t seen you in three days, how are you doing?”